Winged Words: Flight in Poetry and History
by Piero Boitani
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Description
Flight has always fascinated human minds, but until a century ago it remained a dream—the exclusive domain of birds, gods, and mythological heroes. From the myths of the ancients to the poetry of Pindar and Yeats, Winged Words traces the imprint of the human impulse to fly from premodern times to the age of terrorism in both literature and history. Piero Boitani begins his analysis with an account of the way the myths of Pegasus and Icarus have persisted from classical to twentieth-century show more politics and literature. He then takes up the figure of Hermes; the roles of halcyons and eagles in classical, biblical, and later literatures; and literary response to Pieter Brueghel’s The Fall of Icarus. Honing in on modern figures and concerns, Boitani also offers a fascinating discussion of author-pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and concludes with a meditation on the flight of the hijacked airliners on 9/11. Throughout, Winged Word brings a remarkable range of men of action, politicians, theologians, writers, and artists into dialogue with each other: Shakespeare with T. S. Eliot, Horace with Ovid, Leonardo with Milton, Leopardi with Mallarmé, Saint-Exupéry with Faulkner and Rilke, and the Ulysses of Homer with the Ulysses of Dante. Ultimately, by showing how writers and fliers have looked to the ancients for inspiration, Boitani testifies to the modern relevance of poetry and the classics. show lessTags
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59+ Works 521 Members
Piero Boitani is professor of comparative literature at the University of Rome "La Sapienza." He is the author of numerous books, including The Genius to Improve an Invention: Literary Transitions (University of Notre Dame Press, 2002).
Classifications
- Genres
- Literature Studies and Criticism, Fiction and Literature, Poetry
- DDC/MDS
- 809.93356 — Literature & rhetoric Literature, rhetoric & criticism History, description, critical appraisal of more than two literatures Literature displaying specific features, miscellaneous writings Literature displaying other aspects Literature dealing with specific themes and subjects Humanity Scientific and technical
- LCC
- PN56 .F54 .B6513 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Theory. Philosophy. Esthetics
- BISAC
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- Languages
- English, Italian
- Media
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- ISBNs
- 2
